A user of a mobile telephone device can set up voice mail, for the mobile telephone device, to allow callers to leave voice mail messages when the user does not answer telephone calls to the mobile telephone device. Currently, any caller is able to leave a voice mail message after the caller places a call to the mobile telephone device and the user does not answer the call. As a result, the user often receives voice mail messages from callers (e.g., telemarketers) from who the user is not interested in receiving voice mail messages. The user has to spend time and energy reviewing and deleting the voice mail messages that the user did not want receive.
Furthermore, a carrier, associated with the mobile telephone device, has to provide storage capacity required to store the voice mail messages that the user does not want to receive. The carrier is forced to continuously expend resources to add storage capacity (e.g., by adding new voice mail servers) to store an increasing amount of voice mail messages, including those that subscribers, of mobile telephone devices associated with the carrier, do not want to receive.
Currently, a user of a mobile telephone device may create/provide a blacklist of telephone numbers from which to block incoming calls. However, this approach does not allow the user to only block the leaving of voice mail messages, while still allowing the calls, from those telephone numbers, to be received. Additionally, users of mobile telephone devices with any telephone numbers that are not on the blacklist are still able to leave voice mail messages. Therefore, benefits to the operator from conserving resources (e.g., storage capacity of voice mail servers), by allowing users to use blacklists, are minimal.